Cancer currently constitutes the second most common cause of death in the United States. Carcinomas of the breast are the eighth most prevalent form of cancer and fourth among the most common causes of cancer deaths in this country. The incidence of breast cancer has been increasing steadily in the past twenty years in most industrialized countries, exhibiting the characteristics of a growing epidemiological problem. In the year 2000, for example, an estimated 28,600 deaths will be ascribed to this type of cancer and approximately 28,600 new cases will be diagnosed.
Breast cancer is the primary killer of women. One in eight American women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. An estimated 3 million women in the U.S. today are living with breast cancer, which 2 million have been diagnosed with the disease and 1 million have the disease but do not yet know it.
The incidence of breast cancer in the U.S. has more than doubled in the past 30 years. In 1964, the lifetime risk was one in twenty. Today it's one in eight. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women in both America and worldwide. One or more of a variety of treatments such as surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormone therapy are used. The treatment course for a certain type of breast cancer is usually selected based on various prognostic parameters, for example, an analysis of specific tumor markers. (e.g. Porter-Jordan and Lippman, Breast Cancer 8:73-100 (1994)). However, the use of established markers is insufficient to interpret the results and it still results in high mortality which is observed in breast cancer patients. In spite of considerable research into therapies for these and other cancers, breast cancer remains difficult to diagnose and treat effectively. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for improved methods for detecting and treating such cancers.